


Eight Hours

by LastCorsair



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23259250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastCorsair/pseuds/LastCorsair
Summary: When Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee get shot down while on a diplomatic mission, buried feelings come to the surface.
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 9
Kudos: 139





	1. First Hour

Weiss _hurt._ The white-haired young woman couldn’t remember ever hurting this much, not even after her father had turned an Arma Gigas on her in a last, desperate attempt to convince her to abandon her Huntress training. “I’d like to speak to the manager,” she muttered hazily, her eyes still closed. “This is not the day I ordered.”

“Weiss?” a familiar voice rasped.

“Ruby? You’re alive?”

“Ish,” Ruby answered. From the way she sounded, Ruby had taken a battering on order with Weiss’s own. “What happened?”

“Someone shot us down, dolt.” Weiss regretted snapping at her partner immediately. “I’m sorry, Ruby.”

“S’all good,” was the mumbled reply. “Been kind of a crap day all around.”

And the day had started out so well. They’d been on a diplomatic mission of sorts, talking a group of Mantle separatists away from their neutrality in the war against Salem’s forces and into a stance more supportive of the inter-kingdom council. Whatever its official name eventually ended up being. Ruby had first sworn Weiss to secrecy, then told Weiss that her sister, Yang, was finally planning on proposing to her girlfriend, Blake. That had segued into a discussion of what to wear to the wedding, with Weiss promising to help Ruby select a suitable dress. And to butt out of the wedding preparations unless specifically asked.

Weiss pried an eye open, regretting it immediately as light streaming through the airship’s skylight sent daggers of agony stabbing into her skull. Then she remembered that the airship didn’t _have_ a skylight and that she must be looking through a window. Which meant that Weiss was lying on a bulkhead because the airship had come down on its side. She started to sit up, then forced her eyes open slowly. “Ruby, you are not to panic, but I can’t move my legs.”

“W-why not?”

“Something is lying on top of them.”

“Oh.” A pause. “That makes sense and is absolutely not something I would panic over. A groan of pain came from Ruby’s direction. “Okay, I can see it. Looks like a storage locker. Must have come loose when we crashed.”

“Well, get it off me.”

A chuckle was the answer she got. “I don’t think I can lift that.”

The white-haired young woman scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I thought you were ridiculously strong, the way you toss that overgrown gardening implement around.”

“Hey, I’m not the one that carries a glorified toothpick, thank you very much,” Ruby said loftily, and they shared a laugh. “Nah, I’m pretty strong, but that locker looks pretty heavy, even if I take everything out of it.”

“Can you,” Weiss licked her lips; they were suddenly very dry, “can you get something under it, lift it just enough that I can get out from underneath it?”

“Maybe. I’ll look around. Crap.” Ruby’s sigh echoed in the silence of the wreck. “I just realized something.”

“What?”

“I’m still strapped in. And hanging from my harness. Which means getting loose is going to _suck._ Okay, one, two-” There was a thump followed by a scream.

“Ruby?” Weiss called into the sudden silence, starting to sit up before she remembered her legs were pinned. “Ruby, are you okay?”

“Ow,” was Ruby’s reply, in one of the greatest acts of understatement ever. “Harness gave way, honest. I didn’t even have a chance to press the button. Alright.”

There was a sound of things getting kicked around, then something was blocking the light over Weiss. She opened her eyes and saw Ruby smiling down at her, looking about half as bad as Weiss felt. “Hey, partner,” Ruby said weakly.

“Hey,” Weiss answered with an even weaker smile. “Let’s get me loose. I can’t imagine whoever shot us down waiting long. And, um, what about the pilots?”

“Pretty sure they’re goners, but I’ll check. Front end looks pretty trashed. I’ll, um, I’ll see what I can scare up for a lever.” Ruby shuffled out of sight, then Weiss heard muttered cursing. “Yeah, the flight crew’s dead. One guy’s head is smashed in, and the other one has a chunk of the windscreen sticking out of his neck. Must have bled out in seconds.”

“Thank you for checking.”

“No problem. I would have thought of it sooner if I wasn’t groggy from the crash.” Muttering and sounds of things being tossed around from above Weiss’s head. “Okay, I’ve got something for a lever. Looks structural, so I’m guessing it’s strong enough. And this,” Ruby dragged something with wires hanging out of it next to Weiss, “looks solid enough to balance it on. Now let’s get that locker unloaded.”

Ironically, the errant locker proved to hold the airship’s survival equipment. Which meant that instead of just tossing everything to one side, Ruby insisted on taking a careful inventory. “Well, that’s at least one piece of good news,” Ruby said as she held a bottle of water to Weiss’s lips before taking a gulp of her own. “Yeah, having the locker land on you sucks, but at least we know where the survival gear is. And that’ll make a hell of a difference. Okay, now let’s get that off you.”

Slowly Ruby worked her lever under the locker, using another piece of debris as a wedge. It was backbreaking work, made worse by the battering they’d both taken in the crash. When Ruby stopped to take another drink, Weiss said, “Ruby, you have to leave me here. Otherwise whoever shot us down will catch us both.”

“Bullshit.” The curse was startling, considering Ruby seldom swore. “I’m not abandoning the best partner a Huntress could hope for. Besides,” Ruby shrugged, “I figure it’s been a couple of hours already, so if they were coming, they would have been here already.”

 _Or they didn’t think there were any survivors._ That was a thought Weiss was keeping firmly to herself.

Finally Ruby had the lever where she wanted it. “Okay, on three, I’ll lift the locker as high as I can, and you drag yourself out.” Weiss nodded her readiness and Ruby got herself in position. “One, two, _three!”_

Weiss started to drag herself out, only to break off screaming. “S-something’s wrong with my leg, Ruby. I think, I think it might be broken.”

“Damn.” Ruby fell back against what had been the floor of the airship’s cabin, sliding down to sit next to Weiss. “Okay, no problem. I’ve just got to get the locker off your leg so we can put it in a splint.” She exhaled heavily, blowing her hair out of her face, then she smiled. “Maybe I can dismantle the locker. Or, or cut it up or something.”

“Cut it up how?” Weiss scoffed. “R-Ruby, I think you’d better break out one of those survival blankets. I’m, I’m shivering badly and I might be going into shock.”

Dismantling the locker proved futile’ other than the door, the seams were welded. Now Ruby stood, Crescent Rose fully extended, blade extended along the shaft instead of perpendicular to it. “You ready, Weiss? And, um, I really shouldn’t have to say this, but stay super-still. This, um, this isn’t a scalpel.”

“Ruby.” Weiss laid a hand on her partner’s wrist. “I trust you completely. This is the best we can do with what we have.”

The noirette gave her a shaky nod before taking a deep breath to steady herself. “Figured you’d be mad about me destroying Atlas military property or something,” she muttered as she made the first cut.

Weiss couldn’t help herself; she laughed. “The whole airship is trashed, its crew dead, and you’re worried about cutting up a locker? Ruby Rose, you are ridiculous sometimes.”

“Sorry” Ruby muttered again, concentrating on cutting as close to Weiss’s leg without, you know, actually cutting Weiss’ leg.

“It’s fi-okay,” Weiss said with a smile. She knew that Ruby knew that coming from Weiss, the word ‘fine’ meant, ‘This is not okay, but I will pretend it is.’ The substitution was meant to make sure Ruby knew it actually was okay.

Two shaky cuts later, the locker was cut into manageable chunks and tossed toward the back. Ruby carefully ran her hands down Weiss’s leg, making Weiss hiss with pain. “Broken or something. We’ll have to immobilize it as best we can. And make sure you’re covered up good so you don’t go into shock.”

* * *

“Okay.” Ruby grunted as she forced the one sorta-working hatch back into place. “Rescue balloon with attached radio beacon is up, and another one on the ground. And now that I won’t be going outside for a while, now’s the time for that portable heater.”

“Y-yes.” Weiss had been even paler than usual, but some painkillers from the first aid kit and a survival blanket had done wonders. Now she snaked a hand out and turned on the heater. “Y-you should get under this blanket too. I-I know it was freezing out there and we need to warm you up.”

“S-So,” Ruby said, glad for the warmth even though she didn’t want to admit it. Right now it was important to keep Weiss’s spirits up. Ruby was pretty sure the broken leg was just the most obvious of her partner’s injuries. “W-what do we do while we wait to be rescued? It, It won’t be long, right?”

“Hm. Weiss considered carefully. “We could play that obnoxious game your sister likes, truth or dare.”

Damn. Weiss must be verging on shock if she was playing truth or dare willingly. “O-okay. I’ll go first. Um, I choose truth.:

“Right.” Weiss was considering carefully when a question spilled from her lips. “Who was your first crush?”

“W-what?”

Weiss laughed, the sound filling their little shelter as the heater started to fill it with warmth. “I want to know who your first crush was. Their name, what they were like, whatever. We have the time, after all.”

Ruby turned away, not looking at Weiss. “Ask me anything else.”

“Oh come on.” Weiss elbowed her partner. “I hate truth or dare, and even I know you’re not allowed to weasel out of things. I’ll tell you about my first crush. It was one of my singing tutors. I was thirteen and this whole romance nonsense was confusing. But I knew I liked him in a special way. So I… went overboard.”

“What did you do?” Ruby asked in a teasing tone.

“I… borrowed some of my mother’s makeup and tried to make myself look like women did in the movies when they were going after someone they wanted. Stop laughing.”

Ruby couldn't help herself, she was chortling as she imagined a dolled-up thirteen-year-old Weiss. “So how’d he take it?”

“He looked at me and left. I assume he spoke with my father because I didn’t see him after that.” Weiss sighed. She had been so _sure_ at the time, but in hindsight, it had been ridiculous for a child of that age to even hope an adult would return their affections. “Your turn. And I promise not to judge, even if it was Jaune.”

“Jaune?” Ruby gave a gallows laugh. “Nah, he’s a great guy, but… not my type.” She took a deep breath. There wasn’t any way out of this one, not since Weiss had asked her dead to her face.

“My first crush was you, Weiss.”


	2. Second Hour

“ _My first crush was you, Weiss.”_

“Ruby, talk to me.”

Silence.

“Please, Ruby, l want to talk about this.”

Ruby scoffed. Which was still more than she’d said in the hour since her confession. So, an opening, of sorts. “Ruby… I never realized you had feelings for me.”

“Just a stupid crush, nothing to worry about,” Ruby muttered.

Aha, a rebuttal. “If I had known, Ruby-”

“What, you would have let me down easy, told me you just wanted to be friends? Just, just forget I even said anything, okay?”

Weiss rolled her eyes in annoyance. “And what’s that supposed to mean? Are you a mind-reader? Can you foresee events before they unfold? Then how do you know what I would have said if you asked me out?”

Ruby sighed and fell back into silence, leaving Weiss to carry the conversation. She rested a hand on Ruby’s shoulder, only to have her partner and best, no, first true friend shrug it off. “I just, I just know when I’m not wanted, okay?”

“And what made you think you weren’t wanted? Please, Ruby, you’re my best friend. If I made you mad…”

“It was right before the dance. The one at Beacon, right before everything went to hell. I wanted to ask you to go with me, but…”

“I asked Neptune,” Weiss said quietly.

“Yeah. I mean, before that I tried to, um, talk to you about it a couple of times before that, but you shrugged me off. Asking Neptune to the dance kind of got your point across.” Now Ruby turned around to look at Weiss. “It was just a stupid crush, you weren’t interested then and you’re not interested now, so can we just forget about it, please?”

Weiss put on her best ‘nice Weiss’ smile and tapped Ruby on the nose. “Ruby, as I just said, I didn’t ignore your interest in me, I just didn’t see it. And I’m sorry.”

Ruby blinked. “Oh. You, um, you really didn’t realize?”

“Yes, Ruby, I really didn’t realize you liked me,” Weiss said, rolling her eyes again. “And once we are rescued, we’ll talk about it some more, okay? Now huddle closer, we’re going to need to conserve warmth. There’s no way to know how long we'll be here.”

She wrapped her arms around Ruby and pulled her tight, doing her best to ignore how on edge Ruby was. ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter's short, but that's how I see this story, as short chunks of conversation while they wait to be rescued.


	3. Third Hour

“Ruby, wake up.”

“Wha-”

Weiss shook her head and her hand moved beneath the survival blankets they huddled under. I’m sorry, Ruby. Then, with grim determination, she pinched her partner. Hard.

“Oww!” Ruby yelled. Before she could sit up, Weiss pulled her back down, trying to preserve the cocoon of warm air around them. “What was that for?!?”

“We have to stay awake. If, if we fall asleep, we could miss our rescuers, or…”

“Or what?” Wide awake now, Ruby turned to face Weiss.

“Or we could drift off and be gone before the other knows it.” Weiss’s shiver was only partly due to the cold. “That, that’s how hypothermia works. First, you’re cold, then you’re sleepy, then you fall asleep and then…”

“You’re gone.” Ruby’s voice bore a grim resolve. “So what do we do? Sit here and stare at each other, willing our eyes to stay open?”

“Ask me out.” The words slipped from Weiss’s lips without her really thinking about it, but somehow, they seemed… perfect.

“Say what?” Now Ruby was angry, which was definitely not what Weiss was aiming for.

“You said you were going to ask me to the dance at Beacon but gave up when I asked Neptune. So, so ask me to the dance. Like you would have back then.”

“Okaaay…” Ruby cleared her throat. “Weiss, would you go to the dance with me? See, it even sounds dumb to me, now that I actually say it.”

In response, Weiss elbowed her partner. “You can do better than that, Ruby. Say it like you would have said it then. Try and be that love-struck teenage girl again.”

Weiss could damn near hear Ruby rolling her eyes as she spoke. “Um, Weiss, I, um, I was wondering if you’d like to go to the dance with me?”

“I think that might be acceptable.” Somehow Weiss managed to pull off that arrogant tone she’d had back in their Beacon days so perfectly that Ruby couldn’t help but giggle. “Assuming you can actually dance, which I doubt.”

“I can’t, but I wouldn’t have admitted it, so… Oh, I know!” Ruby snapped her fingers. “Pyrrha. I bet she knew how to dance. So I would have asked her to teach me.”

Weiss fought to keep a smile on her face at the mention of their fallen friend. “I bet she did. And, to be fair, you weren’t nearly as clumsy back then as I made you out to be, so I bet you would have picked up at least the basics pretty quickly. Now, your dress.”

“Hey, I picked a pretty good dress!”

“Pretty good if you didn’t have a date, or weren’t planning on dancing. But when I caught you getting dance lessons from Pyrrha-”

“If you caught me getting lessons from Pyrrha.” Ruby retorted. “I may not be on Blake’s level of sneakiness, but Yang has never caught me planning her birthday prank.”

Weiss scoffed.“Your sister is not the most observant of people. How long did it take her to figure out why Blake kept inviting her to come home with her to Menagerie?”

“Yeah, you’ve got a point.”

“So when I caught you getting lessons from Pyrrha,” Weiss’s tone and the look she gave Ruby dared her to interrupt, “I would have taken it as a sign of how seriously you were taking this, and I would have known that you lied to me about being able to dance because you didn’t want to disappoint me. And while we don’t want our dresses to match too closely, we also wouldn’t want them to clash.”

“Urgh, yeah.” Ruby remembered the dresses they’d both worn to the dance. “Blake and Yang pulled it off, but they didn’t go together and they only danced one dance.”

“And here’s where I show my… nicer side. I don’t know where you bought your dress-”

“A place in the mall,” Ruby admitted. “I bought the first thing they had in my size that looked decent.”

Weiss laughed, the sound rebounding loudly enough to startle the two of them. “’Decent’? Ruby, I’ve seen designer dresses that cost more than a Huntress makes in a year that wouldn’t have looked a tenth as good on you. No, I would have been the one needing a different dress. Next to yours, the one I wore would have left me looking washed out and pale.”

“If you’d have told me that, I would have felt bad,” Ruby said with a yawn, then shook her head. Damn if she wasn’t getting into this.

“And I would have snapped at you for feeling bad. But it would have made me happy that you cared.”

“Not that you would have shown it, of course.”

“Not in a million years.” They shared a laugh before Weiss continued. “No, I would have politely asked you to go dress shopping with me. Because…”

“You were my first, true friend, Ruby, and you asked me from your heart. And for that” the white-haired young woman said, sliding her hand under the blanket to take Ruby’s hand in hers, “I think I would have gone to the dance with you. If you’d asked. And even if Neptune had said yes, I think I would have left him hanging.”

Ruby’s mouth fell open. “You-you mean that?”

“I would have left him standing there like the fool he is.” Weiss grimaced and squeezed Ruby’s hand then cleared her throat. “Neptune is the sort of boy that thinks he deserves to have a girl like me with him at a party. These days I really can’t stand him. But if I went with you, I would have insisted that I was the one who needed a new dress, not you. Because I would have wanted to wear something you liked. Maybe something-”

“Midnight blue,” Ruby blurted out.

“Excuse me?”

“I, um, I know white and pale blue is normally your thing, but I’ve always wondered what you’d look like in midnight blue,” Ruby admitted, looking away.

“Midnight blue, then. Or at least it would have been strongly considered,” Weiss allowed carefully. “Any other requests?”

“I, um I don’t know. I don’t really know much about fashion, so I don’t know the words for what I want. But I think I’d know it if I saw it. Oh!” Ruby blinked in shock. “N-not too long a skirt, what you wore is fine, I, um, I really like your legs.”

That made Weiss laugh. “Just my legs?”

“Uh, um-”

She laughed again. “Ruby, it’s okay if part of the way you liked me was because of the way I look. But that had better not be the only reason,” Weiss mock-growled.

Now it was Ruby’s turn to laugh. “It’s not. I mean, I like the way you look, don’t get me wrong, but I like you. And you’re way more than just your looks.”

“Good,” Weiss answered, a blush rising on her cheeks. “Now, after we find a dress that meets with our mutual approval-” Your approval would have mattered more, if I can be honest with myself, “we move on to the night of the dance.”

“Right.” Ruby gave a bark of laughter. “Brothers, Yang gave me enough grief over getting as fancied up as I did. Imagine if I went all out because I actually had a date.”

“I can hear her now,” Weiss said.

* * *

“Jeez, sis, you trying to steal somebody’s date? Or just find one for the night?” Yang gave her sister a smirk, but underneath she was worried. Some jackass might get ideas if Ruby showed up looking a little too pretty in just the wrong way. Big Sister Mode on.

Ruby straightened up from where she was using a mirror to apply her makeup. Normally she didn’t bother with it, but tonight was a special occasion. “Don’t need to, Yang, I’ve got a date tonight. Unlike you.”

Yang just laughed. “Pity dates don’t count, Ruby.”

“For the record,” Weiss’s Atlesian accent came sharply from the door to their dorm room, “five people besides your sister asked me to tonight’s dance. Including Cardin Winchester and Jaune, unfortunately. Ruby is the only one I even considering saying yes to. Are you ready to go, Ruby?”

“Uh, yeah,” Ruby answered, enjoying her sister’s shocked expression. “See you there, Yang.”

As they walked down the hallway to the elevator, Weiss noticed how on edge Ruby was. With one of the genuine smiles she kept for special occasions, Weiss reached for Ruby’s hand. The redhead jumped at the unexpected contact, then took Weiss’s hand in hers.

“Hey, Weiss?”

“Yes, Ruby?”

“You’re kidding about six people asking you to the dance, right?”

That made Weiss laugh out loud, starting another student coming down the hallway toward them. “Six got to the point of actually asking. Three more asked if I was going to the dance with anyone, then dropped the subject when I told them I had a date.”

* * *

“Okay, wait.” Ruby squirmed around under the piled survival blankets. “Nine people asked you to the dance?”

“No, eight. You would have made number nine.”

“And yeah, I was there for Jaune’s guitar playing, but how in the hell did Cardin ever think he had a chance?”

“Hush. You’re spoiling the game.”

* * *

“Then…” Ruby trailed off, uncertain how to continue.

“Why you?” Ruby gave a jerky nod, not trusting her voice. “Because you asked your best friend Weiss to the dance, not Weiss Schnee.”

“Oh, got it. Most people hear your name, they think the Schnee Dust Company. I think of you.”’

“And that,” Weiss squeezed Ruby’s hand, “is why I’m here with you, and not any of them.”

“Yeah but,” Ruby nodded at “you’re headed down early because you’re checking last-minute preparations, right? So why am I going with you?”

“So that everyone knows I’m your date for the dance.” Weiss frowned. “How many people are going to believe that I’m there with you?”

“Nobody,” Ruby grumbled as the elevator doors opened. Being two years younger than most of the students, Ruby was pretty much a social zero. Or maybe a negative number, if there was such a thing.

“But I am. And I don’t plan on anyone thinking any different.”

They stepped out of the elevator, Weiss taking Ruby’s arm in hers as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ruby’s so nervous she stumbles in the heels she’s still not used to wearing. Weiss takes it in stride, keeping Ruby from losing her balance as she steadies herself. The redhead still feels like a draft horse harnessed next to a champion racehorse, but Weiss doesn’t seem nervous, so Ruby does her best to calm down. For Weiss’s sake.

“Hey, Snow Angel.”

Ruby gives Weiss a puzzled glance, but the white-haired girl just winces in response before turning around. “Neptune. How nice to see you. Beautiful weather for the dance, don’t you agree?”

“Yeah, and I can’t wait for us to get there,” Neptune says with a grin, his arms spread wide. “I hadn’t heard about you going with anyone else, and you did ask me, so I thought I’d see if the offer was still open.”

“It isn’t.” Weiss’s Atlesian accent grew razor-sharp in her annoyance at Neptune’s idiocy. “Just because I didn’t take out a full-page ad in the _Vale Gazette_ doesn’t mean I don’t have a date.”

“Well damn, guess I’m out of luck.” Neptune shrugged, then smiled. “So, mind if I keep you company till he shows up?”

“She’s already here,” Weiss answered sharply, nodding toward Ruby.

“Oh.” Neptune scratched the back of his neck, then nodded. “You’re partners, right? Some sort of team-building thing? I get it.”

Ruby growled just a little. She’d thought Neptune was an okay guy. Not so much now. “No, I asked her to the dance. As my actual date. Jerk,” she added, by no means under her breath.

“Okay, I know when I’m beaten. Guess I’ll see you there.” Though you wouldn’t have known he was beaten from the way the blue-haired boy sauntered off.”

“He _is_ a jerk, isn’t he?” Weiss said as soon as Neptune was out of sight.

“Totally,” Ruby answered, and they shared a laugh before Ruby tugged at Weiss’s arm. “Come on, now I’m really looking forward to blowing their minds when we walk in there together.”

Her nerves came back full force when they walked into the ballroom. Somehow Yang had managed to beat them downstairs (probably due to not being stopped by a certain blue-haired idiot), but thankfully the blonde just smiled and welcomed them to the dance. “S-so,” Ruby said as she looked around, “w-what do we do first?” Everyone staring was her imagination, right? Nobody lost a step when they saw the two of them, or dropped their drink, or anything like that, did they? “I, uh, I’ve never actually been to a dance before.”

“I’ve been to more than a few I’d like to forget,” Weiss said with a sigh. “Usually as my father’s pretty little songbird. I’d suggest talking to people but we see most of the people here every day.”

She took half a step in the direction of the dance floor, still holding Ruby’s hand, then turned to face her. “Let’s mingle for a bit anyway, then how about a dance? We wouldn’t want to waste those dance lessons with Pyrrha, after all.”

“So you know,” Ruby muttered, looking away.

“I accidentally saw the two of you. And heard her ask you why you were so determined to learn to dance in a hurry.” Weiss reached out with her free hand and turned Ruby’s face toward her, gently as a butterfly’s kiss, so that Ruby could see her smile, the real one that she kept hidden except for special occasions. “You told her you didn’t want to disappoint me, that you wanted to make sure I had a good time. Nine people asked me to the dance, Ruby. I said yes to you because you asked Weiss to the dance.”

“Huh?” Ruby was confused.

“I’ll explain later. Let’s dance.” Weiss took the lead as they hit the dance floor, deliberately keeping things a little slow to give Ruby a chance to relax.

It didn’t do much good, though. Ruby could see people pointing at the two of them now. “People are staring,” she muttered self-consciously.

“Let them. Don’t let it stop you from having a good time.” They spun, and now Weiss could see Cardin and those goons he called his team pointing at them and laughing at them. If looks could kill, her glare would have sent Atlas crashing from the heavens. “My father turned an Arma Gigas loos on me to try and stop me from becoming a Huntress, but here I am. And if you have any doubts about asking me to the dance, just remember I’m the lucky one.”

* * *

“Dammit!” Ruby yelled, breaking character.

“What is it?” Weiss said with a sigh. She hadn’t really expected this little game of 'let’s pretend' to go this far, but she’d been enjoying it anyway.

“If I’m dancing with you, Cinder’s going to get away with sneaking into the CCT tower.

Weiss laughed. ‘First, if I remember right, you really didn’t manage to do much to stop her, did you? And second, which would you rather do, fight Cinder, or dance with me?”

“Trick question right?”

“Yes. Now, where were we…?”

* * *

“So nice to have a dance partner my height for once,” Weiss said with a laugh as they step off the dance floor for a break.”

“Used to dancing with tall guys, huh?”

“My dance partners are usually the sons of men my father wants something from,” Weiss answered as she sat down. “Besides, I wanted to give you a break. Heels can be murder if you’re not used to them.”

“Do you… do you like that I wore them? I thought it’d be nice if I did,” Ruby asked, reaching for the seat next to Weiss.”

“I do. They look good on you.” Weiss nodded toward the punch bowl. “Why don’t you get us something to drink before you sit down? I’m kind of a little thirsty.”

“But you can-oooh, that’s the sort of thing you do for your date, right?” Weiss laughed a little and nodded. So Ruby set out for the punchbowl, wondering if maybe next time she bought boots, she might get a pair with a bit more heel. Just not as much as Blake or Weiss had.

“Enjoying yourself, Miss Rose?”

“Gah! Oh, hey, Professor Ozpin, you startled me,” Ruby said, scratching the back of her head nervously.

“My apologies. I hope I haven’t ruined the mood.” Ozpin gestured toward where Weiss was sitting. “So good to see partners at a social occasion like this together. If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren’t so different. Two partners interlocked. Heh.” He smirked. “Although, one wrong move on the ballroom floor merely leads to a swollen foot.”

“Managed to avoid that one so far, even with the lady stilts. And um, Weiss is here as my date, not just my partner,” Ruby said, looking up at Ozpin for his reaction.

“I see. Well, it’s not unusual for partners to date. You spend so much time together, after all.” He paused in thought. ”If I remember right, your father, mother, and your sister Yang’s mother were all on the same team while they were at Beacon, weren’t they?”

“Yep, and Uncle Qrow, too. Well, he’s really Yang’s uncle, but he lets me call him ‘Uncle’ too. Oh! I’ve got to get Weiss some punch and get back. See you later, Professor Ozpin.”

“Properly tended, such partnerships can last a lifetime,” was the last thing Ruby heard him say as she left.

 _Okay, was he talking about working together, or dating? Blech._ Ruby poured two glasses of punch and turned to head back toward Weiss, only to stop. “Cardin,” she growled. “Nobody’s hassling _my_ date.”

The leader of Team CRDL had parked himself in the empty seat next to Weiss and was resting an arm suggestively on the back of her chair. “So now that you’ve given that shrimp you came with her dance, how about you and I hit the dance floor? I’ve got some pretty good moves.”

“Actually, Ruby is quite the accomplished dancer. Even if she’s wearing heels tonight, which she normally doesn’t. Oh, thank you,” Weiss said, taking the drink Ruby held out to her.

“Yeah, sure, no problem,” Ruby said nervously.

“Cardin, would you mind letting Ruby have her seat back?”

“Yeah, I mind.” He stood up, looming over Ruby. “Beat it, shrimp. I’m going to show this lady here a good time.”

“I don’t think so.” Cardin turned around just in time for Weiss’s drink to hit him in the face. “I think you’re the one that needs to beat it. Ruby is probably the most considerate date I’ve ever had.”

“Unless you’re still thirsty?” Ruby asks, holding up her own glass. They shared a laugh as Cardin beat an undignified retreat, He stops to glare at the two of them, making them burst out laughing again.

It’s well after midnight when they finally chase everyone out of the ballroom. Ruby yawns as they walk, stretching her arms over her head. “I am gonna sleep for a week. How about you?”

“I may… turn my alarm off and sleep in. But just this once. Ruby?”

“Yeah, Weiss?”

“I had a great time. But you missed something.”

The silver-eyed girl stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh crap, what’d I miss? I tried to make this the best date I could, but I’ve never had a date before and I really hate romcoms.”

“That makes two of us. The hating romcoms part, that is.” Weiss cleared her throat. “I know you were really nervous, but you handled it well. Although I am walking kind of close to you…”

“Soooo?”

Weiss slid her arm around Ruby’s waist. “You can put your arm around me too, if you want.”

And so they wandered back toward their dorm room, arms around each other, neither one of them in any hurry to break the magic spell they’ve cast on each other.

But end it does at last. The pair find themselves staring at the door to their room. Ruby reaches for her scroll, only to have Weiss put a hand on hers. “One last thing, Ruby.”

She gave her redheaded team leader a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you. I really had a great time. In fact, I think this might be the best date I’ve ever had.”

And with that, Weiss stepped inside, heading for her dresser to pull out her nightgown.

* * *

“Whoo,” Ruby said, letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “Okay, the end was really sappy, Weiss. You’ve been borrowing a few too many of Blake’s books.”

“Too much?” Weiss asked with a smile.

“Just a touch.”


End file.
